How Does a Greenhouse Work?

NGSS Phenomena: A view of a greenhouse, made of transparent glass.

Greenhouses are structures made with walls that light can get through, but the environment can be easily controlled inside. They’re an easy way to keep pests away from plants and to make sure plants don’t freeze when it get too cold at night. In the below gif, we see a time lapse of plants growing in a greenhouse.

NGSS Phenomena: A time-lapse of a greenhouse, with some plants growing very tall, some plants growing very wide, and other plants growing with larger or smaller leaves.

1. If evidence is found that the plants in this greenhouse are all different species, it’s that the factors that influence their different levels of growth are .

Drag the answers below into the grey placeholders above

both environmental and genetic

still likely

not likely

only genetic

only environmental

2. Looking at plants A, B, and C, identify one environmental factor and one genetic factor and explain how those factors could explain the difference in their growth? What evidence would you look for to support the idea that these factors affected their growth? Lastly, consider the role thay probability plays in this situation. Discuss one cause and effect relationship and one instance of probability.

3. What evidence would best support the fact that there are genetic differences that cause these plants to grow differently?

Each of these plants had a genetic mutation that caused their leaves to grow in a different shape and stems to grow at different heights.
Each of these plants receives a different amount of heat from the Sun, based on how far away they were from the walls of the greenhouse.
Each of these plants has a fence to grow around, which helps guide its growth upwards.
Each of these plants is a different species, but given the exact same amount of water, fertilizer, and sunlight.

4. Which of the following statements shows that changes in environmental factors will change the growth of these plants outside of the greenhouse?

Flowers might be fertilized without control which would create combinations of seedlings that are less desirable.
Temperatures might drop below freezing at night where this greenhouse is located, stunting the growth of many local plants.
Genetic mutations have caused some of the local trees to grow slightly smaller than they would have normally.
The owner keeps them in the greenhouse to see how they’ll grow in different positions within the greenhouse, relative to the door.

5. What scientific ideas can help to explain the difference in the growth of these plants?

6. Given no information about why plants A, B, and C grow differently, what evidence would you look for to support the idea that environmental factors contributed to the difference in their growth?

7. Given no information about why plants A, B, and C grow differently, what evidence would you look for to support the idea that genetic factors contributed to the difference in their growth?

8. If there’s evidence that these are the same species of plant, how can probability to help explain the differences in their growth?

9. Construct a CER statement below to explain why a greenhouse might be useful in controlling genetic and environmental factors that contribute to a plant’s growth.